She saw, in Arkansas, a Pterosaur Soar

In the summer of 1977, at about one or two in the afternoon, the sighting involved a close encounter with an apparent pterosaur (albeit labeled "teradactyl") that had a large head and a wingspan of about eight feet. According to one of the two eyewitnesses:

My father and I saw a huge, featherless bird in Arkansas, between Van Buran and Cedarville when I was 16. I've been telling people my story since. We were sitting on big rocks at a cliff about 300 foot above the river when it flew out just under us and we watched it all the way down toward the river till it passed the tree lines. It was an awesome experience, indeed.

I have been interviewing the eyewitness for several days now, with the questions and answers including the following:

Q: Did the creature have a tail?
A: yes, but it was not bird-like, (fanned or feathered)

Q: How would you compare the length of the tail, compared with other things:
   a) similar to the length of one wing
   b) similar to the length of both wings (wingspan, tip-to-tip)
   c) Other
A: "similar to the length of one wing"

Q: Did you notice any detail or details on the head?
A: Large pointed head, we couldn't see the mouth because it was going the other direction from us.

Arkansas Sighting (Live Pterosaur) (a different sighting in AR)

"Me and my older brother were sitting in our carport . . . in Texarkana, [Arkansas]. It was getting dark but there was plenty of light in the sky when we saw what we believe to be a pterodactyle. The wingspan seemed to be about 25’ to 30’ ft wide. It was probably about 70’ to 80’ off the ground, flying over a large tree in front of the house. . . . it just glided on air.”

Live Pterosaurs in the Southern United States

This post gives a few details about sightings in Arkansas, Ohio, and South Carolina. The apparent pterosaur in Arkansas had a wingspan estimated at twenty-five to thirty feet--not likely any bird. The Ohio pterosaur have have been less gigantic, but it was still shocking to the lady who was driving the car that seemed to have been dive-bombed by a flying creature that did not have feathers. Her experience was similiar to the one by the eyewitness Susan Wooten, except that Wooten was driving in daylight and in South Carolina.